


Defying Stars

by grahamhannah53



Category: Benvolio and Rosaline, Romeo And Juliet - Shakespeare
Genre: F/M, I tried I promise, Recycled Class Project, Romeo/Juliet - Freeform, Rosaline x Benvolio, Rosaline/Benvolio, not very good
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-05
Updated: 2015-05-05
Packaged: 2018-03-29 04:11:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,997
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3881770
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/grahamhannah53/pseuds/grahamhannah53
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This is something I wrote for lit class when asked to change the ending of Romeo and Juliet, and I always shipped Rosaline and Benvolio, so i just kinda... Yeah. It's short (my limit was six pages...) I don't own characters and all that jazz 'cause I'm not that smart and I'm not that special. So enjoy... ish.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Defying Stars

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first thing so pls don't crucify me *hides in a corner*

Benvolio sat in the alley next to the cemetery, head in his hands, bawling like a newborn child and hating himself for it.  
Where did it all go wrong? He wondered, drawing his knees up to his chest. Just the day before, Mercutio, Romeo, and he were laughing, joking and making fools of each other and themselves. They had been so happy, so carefree, and now… Mercutio was dead. Romeo was exiled. They had both abandoned him, leaving him to walk the streets of Verona alone, torturing himself with memories of how happy they had all once been, and how the lives of his two dearest friends had been ruined all because of some stupid family feud.  
How pathetic am I, he thought. I can’t even walk the streets I grew up on, that I came to love, without sobbing like a blasted woman. He stood, dusting himself off and drying his tears. He hadn’t the time to act like a child. He had to keep his head up and do what he knew was right, for Mercutio’s sake. Light-hearted, merry Mercutio, who always acted as though he had the whole world at his fingertips. Mercutio, the untouchable. Yes, he would do it for Mercutio, so none other had to die like he did for the sake of two old men who wasted their lives bickering.  
He was going to make peace between the Montagues and the Capulets.  
***  
“For God’s sake, child, hush thy incessant wailing!” Cried Rosaline, rubbing her cousin’s back nonetheless. “You needn’t cry for Tybalt. We all knew what a hothead he is. It was bound to happen sometime, and thou knew it as well as thou knowest thine own name, so dry your eyes and act like a Capulet.”  
Juliet shook her head, unable to speak for choking on her sobs. “‘Tis n-not for T-Tybalt’s death I mourn.”  
Rosaline threw her hands up in the air, exasperated. “Then pray tell, Juliet, what hast thou to mourn?”  
“A forbidden love!” Wailed the youth.  
What is this, now? Rosaline thought, shaking her head. Has the girl an admirer? “Of whose? Surely not thine own!”  
“Of course it’s mine own!” Juliet cried. “Father has arranged for me to marry the County Paris, and I am yet married to my one love, Romeo of the Montagues!”  
To the devil with that lustful knave, Rosaline thought bitterly. He sought after me, and now he has found my cousin instead! Once the initial anger had cleared, she began to think more rationally. By what means could she have done that? If she really and truly has, and the marriage is consummated… by heaven, we have quite a predicament! “Truly cousin?”  
“Aye! He is my lord husband, and I… I love him, Rosaline.”  
Well, there’s only one thing to do, she thought, rising from her sitting position on Juliet’s bed. “Well then, I’m afraid I must leave thee to thy misery.”  
She was going to reason with her aunt and uncle about this. If there was anyone who could sway their opinion, it was she, the more level-headed of her kin.  
***  
“Uncle!” Benvolio exclaimed. “You must understand! Make peace with the Capulets, and don’t worry about what a shame it is! ’Tis for the better and thou knowest it!”  
“Boy, do not presume to tell me, in mine own household what I shall or shan’t do!” Thundered the Lord Montague. “Though thou hast a solid head upon thy shoulders, thou knowest not of a lord’s duty to his family and home.”  
“Aye, in that I am ignorant.” Growled Benvolio. “But when thy foolish pride causes innocent death on Verona’s fair streets, thou hast taken it too far!”  
“I know that you lost a dear friend to this-”  
“Two, my lord, for Romeo is gone too. Thine only son.”  
The old man sighed. “Plague me not, nephew.”  
“That I cannot do, for with his dying breath, Mercutio wished a plague on both foolish houses, and I, a true friend, wish to see his final wish granted until this madness stops.”  
“Thou fool of a Montague!” Raged the man of the house. “Thou hast gone mad! Go beg of the Capulets to end this, not of me, for I shan’t let my house be known for stooping first in this quarrel!”  
“Then by God I shall!” With that, Benvolio stormed out of his uncle’s house to try and beg forgiveness from the Capulets.  
A madman may I be, but a fool I am not, Thought Benvolio, drawing up the hood of his cloak.  
***  
“Juliet will marry Paris on Wednesday, Rosaline, and that is final.” Said Lord Capulet, still angry from Juliet’s refusal.  
“Oh, so thou’rt willing to let your daughter live in sin?” Rosaline queried, “She is already married, without your consent, to an exiled man that hath slain our dear kinsman Tybalt. None other than Romeo Montague is thy son-in-law.”  
The lord and lady gasped in unison, and Rosaline rolled her eyes. Must they always be so dramatic?  
“Aye, Uncle! The one you love more than life is wed to one you hate more than death. What say you, then?”  
“Proof! Proof! There is no proof!” Cried the old man, purple with rage.  
“Then, dear uncle, before evening comes, I’ll give you said proof.” Replied Rosaline, crossing her arms. “And if even then you refuse to bend, then it will be God’s wrath be upon you, not man’s.”  
In a right fury she stormed from the house, her thoughts in a whirlwind. Proof, he says! What should I do, fetch a women’s doctor and somehow prove that her virginity has been taken? That foolish man would likely say that it got up and walked away, rather than admit that his daughter is married to a Montague.  
Then, she slammed directly into something solid. Because she was rather short, she had to take a step back to actually see who it was. When she saw, she gulped. A Montague.  
“What have I here?” Sneered the taller (but younger) person. “A Capulet wench? Or scum from the bottom of my boot? I can’t quite tell. It’s all the same, is it not, little Capulet?”  
“I have no quarrel with thee, Montague” She said, gathering her wits about her. Nothing but her hands had she to weaponize, and the sword the Montague had certainly canceled out any threat she might have posed.  
“Ah, but you’ŕe a Capulet, and thus deserve the fate I offer thee.”  
“You raise your sword to a woman?’” She asked, outraged.  
“Woman? What woman? I see only a sow awaiting the slaughter.”  
Rosaline gritted her teeth. What a bloody mess I have gotten myself into. I have but one card left to play, and a pathetic one at that. “My mother was a Capulet. My father’s house, and my house by law, has nothing to do with this wretched feud.”  
“But your blood reeks like a Capulet’s, and I cannot-”  
“Off with you, you scruffy rodent.” Her savior (another Montague, she observed to her surprise, and a handsome one at that) had appeared out of nowhere and hoisted the (presumably) younger boy from the ground by his collar. “Go stir up trouble somewhere else.”  
“But Ben!” Whined the once-intimidating Montague. “She’s a Crapulet!”  
“And thou art a scurvy Montague. Off with you.”  
Ben… where do I- Oh! Benvolio, Romeo’s cousin and friend, Rosaline recalled.  
So distracted was she by her recollection (and by a certain pair of disturbingly stormy gray eyes) that she hadn’t realized that the Montague had spoken until the air hung awkwardly around them, expecting an answer from her.  
“Oh, ah, sorry. What was that?” She asked, blushing like the young maid she used to be.  
“I asked why you were about without an escort.” He replied, eyes full of concern. “Verona, however lovely, is still dangerous for once such as yourself.”  
“One such as myself?” She asked with a laugh. “And what such am I?”  
“A pretty woman with much to lose, I’d wager. Who are you, lady?”  
“Rosaline Tirimo.”  
***  
“Of all the people in the world that could have needed my assistance, lady, it just had to be you.” Benvolio said, looking down at the lovely girl that so well wore the traits of a Capulet, with dark hair and eyes green like the sea. He could now see why Romeo had so fancied this one; she was, in fact, exceedingly fair. But that didn’t mean he had to like seeing her. “As Romeo’s cousin, I’ve heard enough about you to last me a century.”  
She folded her arms and tossed her hair in a haughty, very Capulet-like fashion. “What a lovely display of Montague ignorance. Thou speak’st to me as though I control what is said of me and who hears it! I wanted nothing to do with your Romeo.”  
“So I heard for days and nights, until I was driven mad by his wailings. What art thou doing out in the streets alone, anyhow? Even one as shrewish as thou is in danger of the lusty habits of Veronian men. I tell you lady, they care not a whit for thy vows of chastity.” He wished to stay away from the topic of Montague ignorance. That was what his trouble was anyhow.  
“I am trying to fix this bloody mess between our families, for my poor Juliet’s sake, and for the sake of thy Romeo, her beloved husband. Besides, I only used the chastity vows as an excuse to get that foul cousin of yours off my doorstep. They don't actually exist.” (Why that was important to add, he didn’t know.)  
“Husband?” Benvolio spluttered. “And the plot thickens. What is this, and how came you to know it?”  
“Romeo didn’t tell you?” She asked, her delicate eyebrows drawing together. “I heard it from my dear cousin herself. How do I prove to my uncle that she is wed if thou, Romeo’s own kin won’t believe it?”  
“Oh, I believe it all right. I was only a little shocked. This could be exactly what we need to end this feud… do you know who married them?” He asked excitedly.  
“No..But I should pay our Friar Lawrence a visit, no?” She asked, a twinkle in her eye.  
“We, fair maid. I will accompany you. ‘Tis good publicity to have once such as thou hanging from, my arm.” He teased with a wink.  
She rolled those lovely green eyes at him. “Whatever helps thy dreams settle peacefully upon thy head.”  
“In that case, wilt thy father allow me to court you, do you think?”  
“Shush and put a move on! We haven’t any time to waste!” As shrewish as she was being, there was still an adorable tinge of red upon her cheeks that he thoroughly enjoyed seeing.  
***  
As it turned out, Friar lawrence was able to pull the marriage documents together, and together, Benvolio and Rosaline delivered them to each of the houses in turn, who then begrudgingly forgave one another mutually for the benefit of their children, and then, in their entirety, went to beg the Prince’s pardon on Romeo’s behalf.  
“You know,” Old Capulet said to Montague, “Even as stubborn an old man as I have to… reluctantly… lamentably… and regretfully admit that our children are good for one another when they’re not trying to kill each other.”  
“Why uncle, did you just give Romeo and Juliet your blessing?” Rosaline teased.  
He looked a bit green in the face.  
Once Romeo was back, he and Juliet lived together until the end of their days, and Rosaline forsook her imaginary sacred vows and courted Benvolio, and eventually married him, having many, many children that they loved and cherished. Needless to say, the two families were far from perfect, having their fair share of quarrels, but for the most part, they got along fine, thanks to the occasional “Be nice.” and a kick under the table to the hotheads from their more sensible family.


End file.
